PETALING
JAYA, July 24 – Rights group Lawyers for Liberty (LFL) will go ahead with its
screening of the controversial documentary “No Fire Zone” tomorrow,
despite the prospect of trouble from Malaysia’s censorship hawks.

In an
emailed press invite, the group acknowledged that a similar screening on July 3
by another human rights group, KOMAS, had resulted in the arrests of three
staff members and the subsequent questioning of the group’s director Tan Jo
Hann.

The Malay
Mail Online understands that KOMAS may even be hauled to court for their
alleged oversight of screening the film, an investigative documentary on the
killing fields of Sri Lanka, despite the Sri Lanka High Commission’s request
not to do so.

But LFL
insisted today on going ahead with tomorrow’s screening at the KL Selangor
Chinese Assembly Hall (KLSCAH), saying the “truth should not be silenced”.

“We believe
that the truth should not be silenced and this documentary will be screened
once more on the 25th of July 2013,” the group said in the press invite
for the 8pm event.

“No Fire
Zone: In the Killing Fields of Sri Lanka” covers the final weeks of the Sri
Lankan civil war and depicts the war crimes commited by the Sri Lankan Army on
thousands of Tamil people, including the alleged close-range killing of
Balachandran Prabhakaran, the 12-year-old son of slain Liberation Tigers of
Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

The feature
length documentary directed by British film maker Callum Macrae debuted in
Palais des Nations in Geneva in late February and was screened during the 22nd
session of the United Nations Human Rights Council.

According to
Ipoh Barat MP M. Kulasegaran, the film drew much criticism from the Sri Lankan
government, which insisted that it was an inaccurate depiction of actual
events, containing “lies, half-truths and numerous forms of speculation”.

The lawmaker
said in a statement today that the Sri Lankan High Commissioner Ibrahim Ansar,
upon catching wind of KOMAS’s screening plans on July 3, had issued a letter to
the Malaysian government before the event to request that no such screening is
permitted.

According to
Kulasegaran, the letter had read:

“I would
like to inform you that it has been brought to our notice that a group of
sympathizers of proscribed LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) terrorist
organization have been making arrangements to screen a documentary film
entitled ‘No Fire Zone’ that is based on false and distorted facts.”

“Our Mission
has already requested the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Malaysia and the
Censorship Board of the Government of Malaysia to ensure that no such film is
screened in this country against the people and the Government of Sri Lanka.”

The DAP
deputy chairman said KOMAS later extended an invitation to the High
Commissioner to attend the screening, to which the latter allegedly agreed to.

But on July
3, a large group of between 30 to 40 Home Ministry officials barged into the
screening and arrested three KOMAS staff members, claiming the film was yet to
be approved by the Film Censorship Board.

Kulasegaran
said after Tan’s questioning, he too was approached for a statement at 10.12am
yesterday by four ministry officials under Section 39(4) of the Film Censorship
Act.

He alleged
that the officials were acting on orders from the deputy public prosecutor’s
office to engage him as a witness in court.

“Not only
can this be seen as a form of harassment, this is also an unwarranted waste of
time, energy and resource directed to the director (Tan) and I, but also a
waste of public funds to further pursue this ludicrous matter in court,”
Kulasegaran said in a statement here.

“It is
disappointing and yet, surprising at the same time to see that even a foreign
High Commissioner can exude a towering presence over our ministry’s workforce,
in what could be seen as an act to suppress and censor creativity and truth,
which is deemed unfavourable to some foreign power,” he added.

The lawmaker
later urged Malaysia’s Foreign Affairs Ministry to “reprimand” the Sri Lankan
High Commissioner for “meddling” in Malaysia’s local issues.

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at: http://www.themalaymailonline.com/malaysia/article/despite-trouble-from-censors-group-insists-on-screening-no-fire-zone#sthash.oY3ZeLG4.wxEH3PHP.dpuf